Post by Fruit on Oct 24, 2007 21:55:16 GMT -5

Name: Tuyet (Snow White)

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Nation: Fire

Bender?: No

Physical Description: Tuyet stands at about 5’2 and has a think and curvy figure. Her skin is fairly pale and her lips are full and red. She has a heart shaped face and big chocolate brown eyes. Her short jet black hair is left down and is rather shaggy, only falling just about her shoulders. Her bangs are pushed to her right and her dark red headband stands out in the mess. Tuyet’s outfit is rather plain. She wears a plain dark red shirt that’s sleeves reach ¾ down her arm and a black skirt that fall just above her ankles with high slits in the side that reach all the way up to the top of her thighs. A brown belt keeps it up. Beneath she wears tight dark red pants and old dirty Fire Nation boots. On her wrist she has three gold bangles and has a gold necklace with an amulet shaped like the Fire Nation emblem. Sometimes she’ll carry her sword with her. When she does, she carries her sword case (not sure what it’s called) on her back.

Personality: Tuyet is very outgoing and is considered somewhat flirty. You’ll always find her talking to anyone she’s immediately attracted to. She gets jealous and forms grudges very easily and immediately decides whether she likes a person or not once she sees them. She can be very friendly to the people she likes, but can be awfully wicked to the ones she doesn’t. Tuyet is always picking fights because she always speaks her mind. And with her sword, she can get very violent.

History: Tuyet was born in the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom. Both her mother, Emi, and her father, Juro, were incredible firebenders, but Tuyet had not inherited the firebending gene. She felt inferior to her parents and felt that her parents were not proud of her because she couldn’t bend. When she was seven, her father went to fight in the war. To earn money, Emi had to work at a local store. Tuyet tagged a long with her to work and stayed there all day, just wandering through the store.

When Tuyet was ten, Emi sent her to a swords master to teach her to swordfight. At first Master Zan was reluctant to teach a child at such a young age, especially since she was a girl. Emi convinced him to teach her and he soon grew a liking to her. He taught her all day everyday, keeping her off her mother’s hands so she could work. Tuyet was a natural. She quickly got the hand of it at the young age. Soon enough, she mastered the art and became very passionate about it. She was 13 when she stopped training with Master Zan and spent her days at home or wandering town. Only a few months after she stopped training with him, did Emi and Tuyet learn Juro had died in battle. They were heart-broken, but Emi kept working everyday and didn’t have time to comfort so Tuyet would spend her days alone, moping around.

She usually spent her days by the lake right off town, practicing with her sword alone. She didn’t really have any friends. It wasn’t that she was shy, but she just didn’t want any friends. When she was young she’d spend her days with her mother, running around town doing errands. When she started working, Tuyet spent all her time clinging to her at the store. Then she didn’t have time for friends when she spent it all practicing her swordfighting. And when Juro died, she just didn’t want to communicate with anyone. A few months after Lord Ozai was defeated, when she was 15, Tuyet and her mother moved to Lotus City to start a new life. Tuyet had a clean slate, and began to speak with the others around her and quickly became good friends with the people of the city. A year after they’d moved, Emi died of a terrible illness, leaving Tuyet to live alone. As the months went by, she thought less and less about it, until she barely thought about it at all.

She got a job at a local bar and lives alone at a small little house in Lotus City with her black cat Nikku.

Post by pirateliz on Oct 26, 2007 10:02:42 GMT -5

It's come to my attention that many people are getting antsy and anxious to role play. I accept full responsibility of the current halt in the role play. I have several main characters that keep the role play in motion and due to college and work I have been unable to post as much as I can. If you are anxious to get started a role play camp has been started in order to assimilate the new characters and get everyone used to the role play. You can find it here-distanthorizons.proboards31.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1192049606

A Far Cry from home is moving to Here "I reject your reality and substitute my own!"- Adam Savage, Mythbusters

Post by darkblood_alchemist on Oct 27, 2007 19:05:08 GMT -5

Sorry it's so long. >>;

Name: HuojinAge: 30Gender: FemaleBender/Nation: Yes/Fire

Appearance: She is a little on the short side, just under 5’6”, with skin both burned and tanned by the harsh desert sun. The burns are mild, creating a slight blush across her cheeks and nose. Her eyes are the typical amber tone of the fire nation, but they hold the slight gleam of faded madness. She keeps her short, dark brown hair out of her face by pulling it back into a short ponytail, held by a strip of embroidered cloth, but despite her efforts large chunks often fall into her eyes. She is relatively fit and lean, toned from a combination of work and daily exercises.

She wears a three-quartered sleeved, turtle-necked shirt made of a thin, red fabric that is light enough for the desert heat and loose, calf-length pants that tuck into a pair of reed sandals. The sandals tie up around the calf, and have soles made of woven reeds. On top of it all, she usually wears a sleeveless overcoat that reaches down to her shins and is made of light brown linen. Around the bottom edge is an embroidered fire-nation pattern (think flames) in a metallic red thread that shifts colors in the light. There is a length of leather thread/rope tied around her waist, (with orange and red beads tied onto the ends) over the coat, that keeps it from flapping around in the wind. She also wears fingerless gloves, which protect her palms from thorns or spines on some of the plants that she deals with. Most important is small pouch, about the size of her palm, which she keeps around her neck at all times. Inside the pouch are the dried leaves of a rare firenation plant (the fire-end herb) , which when ground up and ingested is a deadly poison, causing the victim’s throat to close and, once it enters the bloodstream, causing the heart to stop beating.

History: ((I think that the history is necessary to understand her personality, so I put it first)) Being born during the war, the majority of her childhood was spent learning about the “superiority” of the firenation and the “wisdom” of the firelord. She lived in a prosperous fire nation city, and as part of her formal education, she was repeatedly taught that obedience and loyalty were key, and that her only purpose in life was to serve the firelord and her nation. To this end her parents, loyal citizens, began teaching her about their trade at a young age. Her parents were apothecaries, her mother specializing in healing herbs, her father in poisons. They taught her nearly everything they knew, beginning with basic tonics, and eventually working their way up to brews that could produce delusions in all who smelt its fumes. She also learned basic firebending, which her parents used to heat up some of the ingredients and was a small part of her school curriculum.

When she was ten years old, her father was drafted into the firenation army as a part of the special weapon development team (basically, they hired him to use his knowledge of herbs to create something to help them win the war quickly and easily). Her mother continued to teach her, and in time the two of them were known as the best healers in the area, and the patients often came to them seeking poultices and tonics. Word of their skill spread, and soon her mother was drafted as a healer for the armies (she was about 17 at the time). She knew better than to expect their return and continued to work as a healer in her neighborhood, but when news of the Avatar’s return reached the firenation and the soldiers were sent out and injured in greater numbers, she herself was drafted.

She spent the trip to the base huddled in a crowded metal carriage, eating the small rations without complaint. After over a week of the cramped spaces and inadequate meals, they finally arrived at the army base. She was lead roughly to the medical tent, where she was given her oversized uniform and her tent assignment. She spent the first few weeks treated those whose limbs had been crushed by earthbenders, or had other similar injuries, and often was sick at night, her stomach too weak for such sights. She learned more in those few weeks than she had all her life, how to amputate limbs, how to reset bones, even what mixture of herbs would give a hopeless soldier a quick death. But most importantly she learned about the horrors of war. Soon, she became desensitized to everything she saw, carrying out her duties without a complaint, and without losing her meals as soon as she ate them.

A year passed, and she barely noticed it. Her body had become lean, the rations she ate insuffient, and her mind numb to the numbers of soldiers she’d “put down”. Then, she was given orders to move to the front lines, in order to continue her father’s “project”. She spent three long years there, performing horrid experiments with herbs on earth nation prisoners, seeing people die unnatural deaths at her own hands. This broke her, sending her mind into a spiral of self doubt and fear of herself. It was there that she was given samples of the fire-end herb, which she was supposed to use to create a toxic fume to be pumped into Ba Sing Se. This part of her work was cancelled, since Ba Sing Se had been captured by Azula, but she hid the leaves and kept them with her. But she was still forced to experiment on the earth kingdom prisoners, injuring them, then healing them, poisoning them until they were barely alive, then dragging them back to the world of the living. When her growing madness began to affect her work, her hands shaking and her wits becoming addled, the generals in charge of her camp transferred her to the lesser medical tent, where the less seriously injured were treated. The head medics gave her tonics to keep her mind together, and slowly her sanity returned, although she was still prone to fits of madness when memories of what she had done came to the surface. She also kept the fire-end herb with her, despite the medic’s attempts to confiscate it.

When it was apparent that the fire nation would lose the war, the camp disbanded, soldiers deserting and returning to their homes. She herself wandered for a time, performing small healing services with a collection of herbs she had taken with her when she left the camp. On the rare occasion, she also worked as an assassin of sorts, using her knowledge of poisons to supplement her healer’s earnings. Eventually, she learned of Lotus City, and with no other plans, she made the trip across the desert, using money she had earned from her various jobs. She was one of the first to settle in Lotus City, renting a small shop close to the center of the city, with a bedroom and living quarters in the back. She was one of the first healers, and although she was firenation, she received patients of all nationalities. However, whenever an earth kingdom patient came, she avoided looking him/her in the eye, still ashamed of her past in the army camps.

Currently, she works as a healer, and although the population of Lotus City has increased rapidly she is known to many as one of the most skilled healers in the city. She dismisses such claims, but it doesn’t stop her from having a flood of patients. In addition to healing, she uses her knowledge to create firecrackers and sparklers for the festivals, but when people ask about her knowledge of poisons, an odd gleam comes into her eye and she locks herself in the garden behind her house (where she grows herbs) for the remainder of the day. She spends her days in a predictable routine; rising with the sun to stretch and do mild exercises, then after a quick breakfast she gathers fresh herbs and sits in the shop part of her home reading or doing something else to pass the time between patients. At the end of the day, she walks down to the public bathhouses before going to sleep.

Personality: She is a carefully kind person, afraid to know people personally although she has created frail friendships with those patients with chronic illnesses or who are prone to injury. She mainly keeps to herself, and patients usually find her cutting herbs in her garden. Her fees are very cheap, her own personal form of repentance for the firenation camp, and she is even known to treat people in return for goods rather than money. She has an extremely mild temper, and very few people have heard her yell or get angry. She is also passive and hates it when people argue. People often question her about the pouch around her neck, but she avoids further questioning by saying only that they are “special herbs”. When someone mentions something that brings back memories of the horrors of the war, she manages to get them out of her shop before her hands begin to shake and her breathing starts coming in short gasps. She isolates herself in her garden, sits by a patch of fragrant herbs, and watches the sun travel in its arc through the sky, finally returning inside when the last glimmer of twilight is gone.

Icons by me, awesome sig by NightLife is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. - La BruyereIf at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a dang fool about it. - W.C. Fields

Post by Wordweaver on Nov 17, 2007 13:21:21 GMT -5

Bender: He is a Firebender, but is particularly unskilled; He's much more likely to blow himself up than anything else.

Appearance: Despite being fully grown, De still appears very child-like. Due to a wretched thing called "precocious puberty", an unknown condition in this world, De began "maturing" at a much younger age than normal. This left him at a height much smaller than most adult men (at 5'4", he's actually shorter than many women), and a somewhat babyish face. He also has trouble keeping a healthy weight, and is even skinnier than usual now that he doesn't have a steady diet.

De's skin is naturally pale, and doesn't take very well to excessive sunlight (despite his heritage). His hair is a contrast to this, as it's a dark enough shade of brown to be mistaken for black (though again, sunlight helps to bleach it a little). It's become rather shaggy during his travels, and it's unevenly cut, with the longest part being bangs that reach down slightly below his nose (but rarely covers his eyes). He takes care of it though, as attested by the fact that there are rarely very many tangles.

His eyes are one of the few things he has going for him, since his face is more "cute" than "handsome". Said eyes are an odd mix of ashy gray and deep amber; The latter centers around his pupils, and gradually bleeds into the former until it reaches the edges of his irises. This unusual trait is hereditary, and was a small pride within his family.

Peppered all over his body are an assortment of old burns, though every one of them can easily be hidden beneath his usual clothing. Most of these he gained through his own failed attempts at Firebending, though a few of them can be attributed to some badly timed scuffles with other more skilled practicers of the art. To add to his collection of disfigurements, he's also missing his ring and little fingers from his left hand.

In order to cover some of these outstanding marks, he usually wears garments that are too large for him. He's just not comfortable unless his sleeves come at least two inches past his fingers; Never mind the difficulty that presents when Firebending. His current ensemble consists of a dark green tunic that comes down just above his knees; the sleeves of which dangle four inches past the tips of his fingers, a pair of loose-fitting gray pants, and some rather beaten straw sandals. To top it all off, he wears a conical-shaped straw hat to help protect from the sun (and sometimes wears it just because he likes it).

Personality: De is quirky to an extreme. He's hyperactive, immature, mischievous, moody, overly friendly, and he smiles a great deal too much. His mood-swings are, if not bipolar, very close to it. He can switch between mischievous and murderous, and back again, in ten seconds flat - but his nature is already so chaotic that most people probably wouldn't notice these changes right away.

His uncontrollable emotions also contribute to his problems with Firebending: He has trouble controlling what he feels, and also has trouble focusing, so whatever flames he conjures tend to go wild.

Despite all of that, he's inordinately adaptable and resourceful - he's had to be in order to simply live. Over the years, he's managed to turn his unpredictability into a sort of advantage. His usually unfortunate clumsiness can even come in handy at times.

One more odd, though rarely realized part of his personality, is the cunning side of his mind. This side is quite different from his usual bubbly persona, and makes him perfectly capable of deviousness. It's the trickster's demeanor that's present in everything he does, which is usually manifested in more innocent ways, put to different uses. In some instances, it can even make him seem like a completely different person.

In conclusion, please keep in mind that, while De is certainly an oddball, he's not downright insane. His sense of judgment hasn't truly faltered since his initial defection. He gets himself into trouble a lot, but never does anything that will put him in a situation that he can't get himself back out of. He lives his life for the moment, for the fun of it, and anything that would contradict that doesn't even cross his mind.

Background:

Born in the heart of the Fire Nation, to parents of good but not excellent social standing, De had a fairly normal childhood. His parents cared for him, and expected a great deal from him; The same as most parents in their positions. His father held a fairly high rank within the military, as was the long-running tradition within their family, and his mother was a caring soul who tried to be as active in their community as she could as she raised her children. De was the third and last child in the bunch, and his parents were strict - on all of them, equally, and expected equal greatness.

His siblings and he grew peacefully, competing with each-other in as much of a good nature as siblings can, until De reached the age of six. At that time, De reached a sudden growth spurt, and excelled past his siblings both physically and mentally. His parents were dumbfounded, but proud, and continued to teach, train, and nurture him. He watched his older siblings - a brother and sister - enter school, and he felt curious instead of jealous. Contrary to what one might expect, his parents began focusing on supporting their eldest children just a little bit more, instead of the other way around. It was understandable though. The eldest children were the ones who represented their family's prestige, and the burden of the family's future rested on their shoulders. They had to be excellent, as had been the case for the past few generations, and anything less would be a failure in the eyes of their peers. As the youngest child, De simply could not surpass his siblings, but he was still expected to be above average. Since he was already "above average" in his age group, and had done it naturally, his parents simply decided that their time and effort would be put to better use elsewhere.

The educational assignments De was given gradually became more and more monotonous, and he started growing bored of them. The only subject he didn't do well at was Firebending, an art that frustrated him horribly. Whenever he seemed to grasp the key to controlling the flames, it would slip right back away from him, and it would backfire. He had to be treated for burns, both minor and severe, more times than he could count. He hated the element for it's unpredictability, and himself for not being able to subdue it. A small comfort came from the fact that his parents forgave him for his inability; They were exceptionally understanding people, and supposed that his other advancements helped lessen the sting of failure.

In his boredom and frustration, De started to distract himself by playing pranks on others. He would devise elaborate schemes to embarrass his brother and sister, and even resorted to such simple things as leaving frogs in his sister's dresser drawers (of course, this typically meant that part of the house would smell like burnt frogs for a day or two, but he supposed that the entertainment was worth it). His parents became worried at this habit, but since the pranks were only small annoyances, they did not punish him too harshly. They held the hope that it was only a phase, and that he would grow out of it once he entered school.

Things only worsened when De began formal schooling. He didn't seem interested in his lessons, as he would often space out in class, despite the teachers' best efforts to get him to pay attention. He pulled pranks more frequently and more daringly than ever before, and even managed to get several of his friends to help him. He also made friends quickly and easily, but provided a rather bad example. His parents were alerted when it became a disciplinary problem, and in their worry for his wellbeing, punished him more severely when he misbehaved. They also tightened their rules, hoping that a more "structured" environment would cure the problem.

De responded badly to the changes. While he practiced his pranks less often, he developed other problems. His temperament became sour more often, and his relationships with the other students faltered. His grades fell slightly, noticeably, but never quite fell out of the realm of average. Confused, and at a loss for what to do, his parents simply hoped (yet again) that he would fair better once he entered the military. After all, they had groomed him from birth for such a career, and were not about to let the effort go to waste.

After graduating (which he accomplished with non-phenomenal grades, but accomplished it nonetheless), he joined the military at the usual age. Here is where he took a turn for the worse. The rigid regimen had bad effects on his psyche, and training wore him down to no end. Unable to pull a single prank, his state of mind only deteriorated.

At one point, during training, he was matched against a fully-fledged Firebender. During the spar, his opponent (a fellow known for bringing up touchy subjects unknowingly) mentioned De's lack of skill in their country's signature art. Because of it, he attempted to go easy on De, and even tried to help him with it a little, but unfortunately, he did it in such a way that it only seemed annoying and condescending. Already in an irritated state of mind, and now highly irked, De tried to do something very stupid: He concentrated as much energy as he could into one point, forming a fairly powerful ball of flame, and attempting to fling it at his sparring partner. The attack immediately backfired, and flame engulfed his left arm. He ended up with a bad third degree burn over his hand and part of his arm, and two of his fingers became infected because of it. Said fingers had to be amputated before the infection could spread, and he was left with a very mangled left hand. It became a mark of shame, and he took to wearing longer sleeves to avoid the embarrassment it caused him.

After a time, he was sent on an assignment in the Earth Kingdom. His first experiences in the area were not pleasant. For one, they were sent to subdue many villages that were not themselves militant (though they did pose a threat, surely). He witnessed a few things that he would have preferred not to, and also had to take them in stride. He started becoming depressed more often, making his comrades worry. One of his comrades in particular showed a great deal of concern; A man that had been his commanding officer on several occasions. He started showing a peculiar interest in De, which De was oblivious to for the longest time. He continued on unaware of it for the longest time, until the man made him aware of it rather forcefully. Obviously, De had not been expecting it. He was shocked, yet due to the fact that it was his superior, he felt that he could not deny it. It was yet another thing to weigh on his mind, deprive him of sleep, and curb his already faint appetite. His chaotic nature turned completely inward, and caused his first real, overwhelming lapse in judgment.

An unexpected attack by Earth Kingdom agents one night sent De's camp into chaos. The watchmen were slain quietly, before the alarm could be sounded, and many soldiers were subsequently killed in their sleep. The attack was precise, and by the time the surviving men awoke, it was obvious that nothing could really be done. Nevertheless, they fought. De was with his commanding officer all through the attack, and during the battle, watching the people he had known and the people he had killed, something in his mind clicked (though most would say it snapped). De turned and attacked his superior, who was fighting an Earthbender at the time, though in the end it was unclear whether it had been De or the Earthbender who struck the final blow. Shocked, the Earthbender let De escape into the confusion. While fleeing, he was attacked by his former comrades who had witnessed his betrayal, as well as the Earth Nation soldiers. Yet he managed to make it out alive, though very heavily wounded.

After defecting, De shed his Fire Nation garb, and forced himself to walk to the nearest Earth Kingdom village when he would have preferred to stop and rest (for if he had, he would have died). He was taken in at the village, and received medical treatment and clothing. He was assumed to be a refugee, and De built an elaborate story around that idea. He even took on an new name, the first part of which he stole from a neighborhood pet, the second part being a very common name in general. That is how he got the name "De Le".

De spent some time recuperating in that village, but was very aware that he would have to leave soon. Since it was so close to a battle site, it was inevitable that soldiers would come seeking retribution. The inhabitants were moving away gradually, and De decided to go with them. He traveled with the family that had sheltered him for a while, before deciding that his status as a wanted criminal made it too dangerous to travel with one group of people or stay in one place for too long. So he started wandering, going wherever seemed the most fun or interesting.

So far, he's traveled through Ba Sing Se, creating some havoc there, and even managed to get through Omashu without being killed. He's been lucky enough to avoid death for the years after his defection, and now that the war has ended, not much has changed. He still wanders, never staying in one place for more than a few weeks, and his wandering has led him to Mai Lei. Perhaps here, he can live in peace for a while, without having to worry about being captured and executed too much.

Note: Alright, to clear things up: No, De cannot Firebend without hurting himself. What happens when he tries is similar to what happened to Zuko when he tried to create lightning. His emotional instability prevents him from controlling the flames adequately enough to cause any sort of damage to another person, unless it's accidental. And by now De knows better than to even try it outside of private training, because it never does him any good. Now to compensate for this, he does know some martial arts (what kind I don't know, since he's a very new character - probably something akin to Long Fist, which is what Firebending is based on), because no soldier would survive one day without having some sort of skill. However, he never utilizes these skills for anything besides escape - he won't even strike his attacker if he can help it. Please also keep in mind that all of this would be under life threatening circumstances; if he's not going to be killed, and he can't run from the attack, he'll take the beating. He doesn't want his history to become public knowledge, so displays of martial prowess are automatically bad. Granted, he's good with traps and stealth - things he would normally use in a prank or practical joke. This just isn't a combat-based character.

Now, on his appearance: De actually prefers to be clean. He looks bad right now because he's a poor traveler - he just can't afford to do more than occasionally wash off in the odd rivers, springs and such that he passes, and comb his fingers through his hair. Also, his hair is uneven not because he doesn't care about it - it's because he has to cut it himself, without the aid of a mirror, using an old knife. Trust me, I know what it looks like when somebody does that.

On his history: A'aight, I filled in a bit more information while still leaving it as vague as I possibly could. Hope that answers a few more questions. Oh, and about the traps and stealth - Those are things that he was naturally good with from the start, because he'd been pulling pranks and avoiding the punishment for so long. When he was sent out to war, those abilities were adapted to become more deadly. I meant to work that into his history when I edited it, but it was such a small detail that it slipped my mind.

EDITED! Hope that clears some things up. Gawd, I need to stop making such over-complicated characters.

Post by darkblood_alchemist on Nov 17, 2007 23:59:08 GMT -5

Wordweaver -- You asked for criticism, but I can't think of any. I just had one question: What is he doing now? Why is he in Lotus City?

Other than that it all seems fine.

Icons by me, awesome sig by NightLife is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. - La BruyereIf at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a dang fool about it. - W.C. Fields

Post by Wordweaver on Nov 20, 2007 1:15:56 GMT -5

darkalchemist said:

Wordweaver -- You asked for criticism, but I can't think of any. I just had one question: What is he doing now? Why is he in Lotus City?

Other than that it all seems fine.

I did a great big ol' edit just now, so there's a bit more to his history. The last line is really all there is to his reason for being in the city - It's a new city. It's a city that's known for being unbiased. That's weird and interesting. Of course he'd want to see it. Plus, as a city that claims to have no racial or political strife, it would be the ideal place for him to hide for a while.

Post by pirateliz on Nov 23, 2007 11:45:10 GMT -5

tmmfangirls said:

I would love to join, but is it too late? Because there are 101 pages and I haven't followed at all...

You can still join, and it is not required to be up to date with the current role play. When the second half of the role play starts there will be a new thread created. Even though its not required to keep up with the current role play, I reccomend it and suggest reading it while you have free time. Really its an easy read and doesn't take long to finish. I've read all 101 pages over again in one day.And I don't have to

A Far Cry from home is moving to Here "I reject your reality and substitute my own!"- Adam Savage, Mythbusters

Post by Sakura on Nov 23, 2007 15:58:28 GMT -5

pirateliz said:

tmmfangirls said:

I would love to join, but is it too late? Because there are 101 pages and I haven't followed at all...

You can still join, and it is not required to be up to date with the current role play. When the second half of the role play starts there will be a new thread created. Even though its not required to keep up with the current role play, I reccomend it and suggest reading it while you have free time. Really its an easy read and doesn't take long to finish. I've read all 101 pages over again in one day.And I don't have to

Mkay, I guess I'll have to start reading...but I guess I'll add my character so that you can look it over....

Name: Hyana Kino (HI-ana KEE-no)

Gender: Female

Age: 17 (going on 18)

Nation: Earth Kingdom/ EK

Bender/Weapon(s): Yes; Her Weapons are long-range objects such as bows and arrows

Appearance: Hyana is 5’ 6” and muscular from work. Her eyes are a deep gray, and her hair is very long and mahogany. Hyana’s outfits vary from day-to-day, but she’s usually wearing earrings, a simple ribbon necklace, leather knee-high boots, and a mint/sea green and black sleeveless dress ((usually ankle-length or knee-length and made of canvas)), with a matching scarf tied around her arm or head. She likes putting her hair into two buns on the side of her head, but usually its hanging down with a black ruffled headband in it. She has scars running up and down her arms from fire. Hyana always carries a black backpack and she recently received a bow and arrows.

Personality: Hyana is very sweet and nice. She is extremely calm in the face of possible death. Her temper is short, but she doesn’t stay angry for long. Hyana tries not to cry, but most of the time she can’t help it. She hopes to conceal this by being tough, but it doesn’t change the fact that she needs a friend. She can rely on herself most of the time, though.

Note(s): I’m trying to make this less Mary Sue-ish then my other OCs. I’ll accept constructive criticism, but remember: I’ve worked very hard on this, so there are some things that simply cannot be changed. Also, I’m very, very sorry that I didn’t go into more detail about Hyana’s childhood, but what can I say? It was NORMAL. And again, I’m so very sorry about my lack of wordiness. I didn’t have any inspiration, though! I know that the history sounds pretty cruddy. Ah well, more stuff to fix then abandon! Good for us. But don’t let me hold you up: Read on!

History: Hyana Kino was born on May 4 to Mink and Jiang Kino, in the village of Ten-Shii. Hyana was a happy child who loved to play with Earthbending with her brother, Kuan. Her family was well off, so they could afford their children’s desires to attend school, learn from a dojo about weapons, and enroll in Earthbending classes. Hyana loved to sketch and write about things she thought were impossible or unreal, like spirits and the Avatar. Kuan, however, was the exact opposite. He liked roughing around in the mud, hated school, and he was often seen trying to persuade his sister to play pranks or practice throwing knives with him. Hyana’s father Jiang was a blacksmith, so you could often see his children in his shop, examining him as he made swords, knives, and an array of other metal things. Jiang liked to take his children camping trips to observe nature. Hyana’s mother Mink, on the other hand, worked at a bakery making pastries and cakes. She liked to take her children to the sea. All in all, Hyana had a normal childhood.

When Hyana was 17, she moved away from her home in Ten-Shii. In her village, it was a tradition for teenage girls to move to a new town in order to start a new profession and a new family. Hyana took the trip alone, and she was still uneager to leave her hometown knowing that she couldn’t return for many months. It was two months before Hyana found a village of her liking. It was a small village named Inspiration Point, near the coast. Hyana bought a cottage there and learned the arts of painting, poetry, and gardening. She were finally settled down in her new village when the worst happened.

It was late in the daytime, around midday. Hyana was sitting in front of a second-story window, painting quietly, and Mahoko, her neighbor, was lying on the couch behind her, writing haiku on a notepad. It was eerily quiet. Then, screams echoed down the streets below the window. Hyana looked through the window and saw red Fire Nation rogues on rhinos parading down the streets, breaking into houses and dragging people out to hold ransom. She, too, screamed and she and Mahoko started (quickly) packing all their money and clothes into knapsacks. Then, together, they ran out the back door just as a rogue burst through their front door. Suddenly, Hyana felt hot tendrils of fire dragging her back towards the house. She panicked and screamed, and Mahoko somehow managed to Waterbend a shield between her and the soldier. The fire was cut off, and the friends continued running for their lives, first between houses, then through forests, until they stopped in another town two days later.

They seperated at that town, after warning the town of the danger. Mahoko knew she had to fend for herself, and left Hyana around daybreak. Hyana then knew that she couldn’t stay in the towns to long, in case the Fire Nation was on her tail. She stayed on the move for many months, until Hyana had enough skills to survive in the wild. One day, a couple of months later, Hyana recieved a letter from her parents telling her to go to a far-off city, to be safe with her aunt. Since that day, Hyana has traveled non-stop, sometimes camping in forests, sometimes staying in towns and working odd jobs, but the same question flutters into her mind everyday: How the heck will she survive? And what became of her neighbors, especially Mahoko, and her new town? She can only dream as her destiny unravels before her.

Now, seven months after running from the rogues, Hyana has found herself where her parents intended: stuck in Lotus City with her mean, rich Aunt Herena. She works in her aunt's Middle Ring flower shop- The Lace Boquet. She runs errands for her aunt, usually in the Lower Ring where everything's cheaper. Somehow, through all this, she still manages to practice Earthbending on the few free minutes she has. She knows she can't go on like this, but what is she to do?

EDIT: I just posted in the original roleplay, but if you want I could move to the Roleplay camp...?